A local woman has been arrested for cheating a 27-year-old female local doctor out of a total of 1.17 million patacas by claiming that she could help her get a job in a local public or private hospital, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Choi Ian Fai said during a regular press conference yesterday.
The suspect’s husband has also been arrested for his alleged involvement in the scam.
According to Choi, the victim works as a doctor, but she did not say where the victim works.
Choi identified the suspect as a 53-year-old woman surnamed Sou who told the police that she is unemployed. Her husband surnamed Lam is a 68-year-old doctor practising in Zhuhai. The surname of the victim, who is in her twenties, was not released. She told the police she is a physician.
According to Choi, Sou and the victim met in a local tutorial centre where they worked as part-time tutors in 2017. The victim told Sou that she had failed her exam to work as a doctor for the Health Bureau (SSM). Sou claimed that she could help her get hired as a government doctor but this would require her to pay a 100,000 pataca “service fee” in advance.
The victim believed her friend, and she paid Sou the amount in cash. Soon after, Sou claimed that some hospital staff had found out that she was trying to get a job for her friend so she needed to pay 370,000 patacas as “hush money”. The victim believed her again and paid the additional amount.
In March last year, Sou told the victim that her face looked abnormal and that she was possibly possessed by ghosts that needed to be exorcised. As the victim believed her friend once more, she paid 580,000 patacas for the exorcism.
Choi did not say who conducted the exorcism.
In October last year, Sou claimed that she could get her a job as a doctor in a local private hospital, telling the victim that she needed to pay another 120,000 pataca “service fee” in advance.
Following Sou’s instructions, the victim exchanged the 120,000 patacas into yuan and transferred the amount to a bank account of Sou’s husband on the mainland.
As none of the promised jobs ever materialised, the victim finally suspected fraud, and she reported the case to the police on January 27 this year. She reported a loss of 1,170,000 patacas paid on four occasions.
The police arrested Sou when she was about to leave Macau via the Barrier Gate checkpoint on Monday night. Her husband Lam was arrested in the couple’s flat in the northern district on the same day.
Sou admitted to committing the crime and confessed she gambled away all the money in a local casino, according to Choi.
The police have transferred Sou to the Public Prosecution Office (MP), where she is facing possible arraignment on a charge of aggravated fraud. Her husband also faces a fraud charge.
Judiciary Police (PJ) spokeswoman Choi Ian Fai (left) answers journalists’ questions as Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Kam Ka Kit looks on, during yesterday’s regular press conference by Macau’s two police forces. Photo: Kristy Chan
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